


On the Run

by Sop12345d



Series: Rebecca [2]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Misunderstandings, On the Run, Podfic Welcome, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 04:41:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9162436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sop12345d/pseuds/Sop12345d
Summary: Sequel to Escape. I suggest you read that first to understand this story.Beck has settled into the village, but when Alvin joins forces with Dagur and the Berserkers, Hiccup and Beck end up having to go on the run to escape their clutches.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**This is my sequel to one of my other stories, Escape. You should probably read that before you read this, so yeah... Enjoy!**

* * *

"Okay, so today we're going to learn about combat, because if we're ever separated from our dragons and there's a threat, we need to be able to defend ourselves," Hiccup announced to his group of friends, which now included Rebecca, or Beck, a girl who had recently moved to Berk after having rescued Hiccup from Alvin's clutches two weeks ago. Apparently, Beck had had some excellent training in combat from her parents before they died seven years ago, and since she had nothing much to do since then, Beck had practiced her fighting skills almost daily. So, she was going to be leading the class today at the Dragon Academy. Hiccup said as much to the group of teens and they all either looked interested (Astrid and Snotlout) or wary (Fishlegs and the twins). Astrid was quite interested in today's lesson, understandably, as she was the best shield maiden on Berk, while the twins and Fishlegs were wary because they hoped that Beck's lesson wasn't as hard as one of Astrid's lessons would be. Snotlout was actually a bit of both, as he loved to show off his muscles, but he still wouldn't like to have a really difficult lesson. "Anyway, take it away, Beck," Hiccup finished, gesturing to the girl, who stood off to the side, quietly observing the other teens. She seemed to do that a lot lately.

"Okay then," she started, stepping up beside Hiccup with one hand on her sword. "We'll just do pretend fights, one by one, between me and each of one you guys. Then we'll go from there." Here, everyone looked at her curiously, but Beck just smirked and said, "Astrid, you're up."

Astrid gripped her favourite axe tighter and stepped closer to Beck. Hiccup counted down from three, "Three...two...one...go!" and Astrid was off like a shot, yelling a battle cry as she rushed Beck, who stood there calmly as Astrid got closer and closer. Finally, seeing that Beck seemingly wasn't going to move before she bowled the thin girl over, Astrid stopped just short of Beck, which was her big mistake. Beck used the blonde girl's momentum from rushing at her and suddenly stopping to her advantage and grabbed Astrid's arm and twisted it while simultaneously kicking her in the back of her knee, so Astrid's knees buckled and she fell on her back at Beck's feet, her axe skidding away.

Beck calmly hefted her sword and pointed it at Astrid's prone throat, looking away and at the group as she did so, as if she wasn't doing anything important and hadn't just beat  _Astrid Hofferson_ in a fight. "One thing you need to know," Beck said, her tone serious. "Expect the unexpected. If your opponent is smart, they'll do anything to make you feel uncertain and hesitant, and when you get uncertain and hesitant, you pause. Which is something you never want to do in the middle of a fight." Having ended her first lecture, Beck held out her hand to Astrid, who grabbed it and used it to get back up on her feet. Everyone stared at Beck in shock. This thin, frail-looking girl had defeated the great Astrid Hofferson like it was nothing. All she'd done was stand there, and yet it had ended with Astrid on the ground, Beck's sword keeping her there and pointed at her neck.

"So... who's next?" Beck asked, grinning. There was a reason she had picked Astrid to go first. Beck knew that everyone thought that Astrid was unbeatable, plus she knew that Astrid would be the most willing to go first, as she loved combat training too and was eager to prove her strength. Furthermore, the other teens' confidence in their abilities against Beck would be diminished when they saw Beck defeat Astrid so easily because if this stick-thin orphan could easily subdue Astrid, then how could they expect themselves to be able to defeat Beck?

Not surprisingly, no one spoke. Fishlegs and Hiccup shifted restlessly, looking anywhere but at Beck, while Snotlout whistled innocently and the twins still had their mouths agape. Chuckling, Beck walked over to Ruffnut and Tuffnut and closed their mouths, startling them out of their stupor at seeing Beck defeat Astrid. Astrid, herself, couldn't help but be grudgingly impressed with the new girl. She had skills, but even more, she had  _smarts._ And she knew how to use them.

Beck sighed mock-disappointedly. "Oh well. I guess I'll have to pick another volunteer..." she said, starting to circle the group like a shark would circle their prey (which was exactly the point, in this case). Slowly, her circles got tighter and tighter around...Fishlegs. Poor Fishlegs whimpered and hunched his wide shoulders, trying to appear unnoticeable. Call him a coward, but Fishlegs had never liked fights and combat. He didn't see the point in them, really. Finally, Beck stopped her circling and paused in front of Fishlegs, then backed up, as if the match was about to start. She glanced at Hiccup, who took his cue and started his countdown from three, leaving Fishlegs barely enough time to scurry over the weapons rack (borrowed from Gobber's forge) and grab a small hammer. At Hiccup's "Go!" Beck sprinted at Fishlegs, her sword raised and her face stony. Fishlegs yelped and tried to get his hammer into the ready position, but when Beck got within five feet of him and didn't show any signs of stopping soon, Fishlegs panicked and dropped his hammer, curled up in a ball on the arena floor and started begging, "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me..."

Beck screeched to a stop and used her foot to prod Fishlegs out of his defensive position, then pointed her sword at his neck. Just like with Astrid. She then looked up at the nervous crowd and said, "Another important thing to remember. Know thine enemy. I observed that Fishlegs isn't one for fighting, especially very aggressively, and I noticed that he is easily scared and startled. So, I rushed him without seeming to stop before I hit him so that he would get nervous and break down." Here, she took away her sword and let Fishlegs get up, who was shaking like a leaf in a strong wind. Quickly, before Beck could play her weird mind games with him again, Fishlegs scampered away and hid behind Snotlout, who was beginning to get cocky.

"Alright, so you beat Astrid and Fishlegs. Big deal! Astrid's a good fighter, I'll admit, and Fishlegs is a coward, but I'm a true warrior! I'd like to see you  _try_  and beat me, babe," Snotlout sneered at Beck. When Beck had come to live at Berk, Snotlout hadn't stopped hitting on her since. To be honest, he was getting tired of getting rejected by Astrid constantly (plus he could tell that Astrid liked his runt of a cousin already for some reason anyway) and here was a new girl to flirt with. Unfortunately, Beck had been resisting all of his attempts at flirting with her so far (she had actually once threatened to break his arm) but he had a good feeling she'd reciprocate soon.

To Hiccup's surprise, Beck only smiled at Snotlout's remark of "babe", which slightly worried Hiccup. This wasn't going to be good. Usually, Beck would snarl and threaten Snotlout with her ever-present sword, but if she was just going to blatantly ignore Snotlout's pathetic attempts at flirting with her, then Beck must have something nasty planned.

Snotlout adjusted his grip on his bludgeon while Beck just stared innocently at her fingernails, like she was bored. Hiccup and Astrid had to hold back chuckles at her obvious disregard for Snotlout at times. When Snotlout looked ready, Hiccup started the countdown. When he had said go, Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs leaned forward eagerly, wanting to see Beck kick Snotlout's ass in this match so the loud and arrogant boy would finally be taken down a notch or two. The twins were too busy arguing over what weapon to choose for their respective matches with Beck (they both wanted the same mace).

When Hiccup said go, Snotlout started walking towards Beck casually, spouting some nonsense about how he had recently moved into his parents' basement and would Beck like to come over and work out sometime. Beck didn't try to walk forward and engage Snotlout in combat; she just stood there, twirling her hair, smiling goofily and agreeing with everything Snotlout said. Snotlout fell for it  _completely._ He kept walking aimlessly, showing off to Beck, while remaining unaware that Beck had gone behind him and had her sword raised over her head. Suddenly, she tossed her sword in the air, grabbed it by the blade and whacked Sntolout in the head with the hilt. Snotlout, of course, never saw it coming and promptly collapsed onto the hard floor face down. Beck placed her foot on Snotlout's back to keep him there while she explained to the other teens, "Also, always keep your eyes on your opponent. That one's pretty obvious, or at least should be." This last part she hissed at Snotlout, who mumbled something about could he get up now. Beck grudgingly let him up and the matches continued.

When it was Tuffnut's turn, all Beck had to do was point over Tuffnut's shoulder and say, "Look over there!" in an excited tone to get the opportunity to shove him down onto the arena floor and point her sword at his neck while proclaiming that one should never trust their opponent not to play dirty. For Ruffnut's match, Beck got a shield and angled it so that the afternoon sun hit the shield's shiny metal center and reflected a small circle of light onto the ground, effectively distracting Ruffnut long enough for Beck to flip her onto her back and subdue her. Beck then announced that you should never let yourself get distracted during a fight.

Finally, it was Hiccup's turn. He felt kind of nervous while he and Beck were squaring off, waiting for Astrid to do the countdown. He'd seen her skills with combat, especially with a sword, on Sunset Island and Outcast Island and he didn't feel like being on the receiving end of those skills. Then, Astrid yelled, "Go!" and Hiccup raised his sword into a defensive position to block any of Beck's attacks. But, surprisingly, Beck didn't start by attacking Hiccup's sword to disarm him; she kicked at Hiccup's prosthetic and grabbed his sword as he let go of it in his surprise and attempt to balance himself before he fell. While he had his arms out, Beck pushed him over and Hiccup landed on his back rather painfully with Beck pointing both swords at him.

"And finally, exploit your opponent's weaknesses while using a bit of force," she said, finally tired and a bit short of breath after all the adrenaline spikes. "That's all for today."

As soon as she said these words, everyone but Hiccup, Toothless, Chainsaw (Beck's Whispering Death) and Beck herself nearly ran out of the arena, eager to be gone. Astrid wanted to go practice her axe skills in the woods ("I'd like to see you try and beat me next time!"), Snotlout went to get something to eat from the Great Hall ("I need my strength!"), Fishlegs wanted to spoil Meatlug with some granite rocks he had found ("Granite's her favourite.") and the twins wanted to go yak-tipping ("It's more fun than getting beat up in Dragon Academy class!").

Beck sighed and leaned against Chainsaw, who nuzzled her gently. "I'm so tired," she yawned. "I never thought that teaching people could be such a handful."

"Yeah, you'll get used to it," Hiccup replied while scratching the back of his neck. "At least the day's practically over," he continued, observing the sky getting pinker with the approaching sunset.

"Yeah, I guess," she said tiredly. And with that, they both got on their dragons and headed to their respective homes.


	2. Chapter 2

Admittedly, when Beck had first arrived at the Isle of Berk, there was too many people there for her liking. She had lived on an island with only two other people on it for seven years, then for seven years after that, it had only been her on the island, along with various dragon acquaintances. So, when she got to this busy, hustling village full of hundreds of people, Beck had been slightly overwhelmed. It was, however, a good opportunity to observe other people. She watched men go out in fishing boats and return with huge nets of fish and she saw women train their children in combat. It was all such a...  _community._ Everyone knew everyone else by at least their name. It made Beck feel both lonely and warm inside at the same time, somehow. She felt lonely because these people had known their neighbours all their lives and it would stay that way for the rest of their lives, while she was a stranger with a slight connection to the Chief's son because she happened to save him from Alvin the Treacherous. On the other hand, Beck felt warm inside seeing all those villagers communicating and cooperating with each other because it just looked like it worked so  _well._

One day a year or two ago, Beck had finally gotten sick of Sunset Island, her home island, after her parents' deaths, and had decided to leave it and find another island with actual  _people_ on it. She had made a small boat for herself and had sailed for a few days when she encountered an island full of Vikings. She had been about to call out to them and dock her boat, but the way they had run around like insane people, fighting with each other and even killing one another, had put her off leaving her island for good, and she returned quickly to Sunset Island. Later, she had checked her map of the Barbaric Archipelago and saw that the island with the crazy people she had found was the island of the Berserkers, lead by one Oswald the Agreeable, according to her parents' notes. But it seemed that the island was now led by Dagur the Deranged, Oswald's insane son, going by the state of the village when she had arrived. According to her parents' notes, Dagur had always been declared odd by everyone who met him (this they'd found out from Trader Johann).

Understandably, after that day, Beck had refused to leave the island since all she saw of other Vikings were deranged, bloodthirsty warriors, and she trained every day to protect herself against crazy people like them. But then one stormy night, a small, thin boy washed up on her shores and she took him in. This boy hadn't looked like he could hurt a lamb, and when he woke up, he was the one scared of  _her_ at first. But then they got to know each other and Alvin had kidnapped Hiccup, for that was who the boy was, and Beck had gone to rescue him. When they arrived at Hiccup's home, she saw that not every tribe of Vikings is particularly bloodthirsty and savage, always hurting other people. This was a peaceful people (they had  _dragons_ living in harmony with them, for Thor's sake!), and Beck swore to stay loyal to them and protect them with her life.

Once Beck had returned from her last trip to Sunset Island to gather her things and set the livestock free to multiply in the wild, she had stayed with Astrid in the Hoffersons' house for a bit, but even then she felt crowded and requested that she get a small hut for herself somewhere on the outskirts of the village. Surprisingly, her wish was granted, and so she remained independent in her small, sturdy hut, with a barn on the side for her dragon, Chainsaw. Not everyone had trusted her and Chainsaw when she had arrived at Berk, though. She, like her Whispering Death, looked and acted spiky on the outside, but inside, they were both kind-hearted and unfailingly loyal. Beck would do anything for the people she cared about, and this was to be an important thing for her to know later on.

* * *

When she got back home, Beck dragged out a basket of fish from her stores for Chainsaw, who devoured it gratefully, and she grabbed a mutton leg for herself, brooding by the fireplace. Today's training session had gone well. Her observations of her new friends had been put to good use, if her defeats of every single one of them were anything to go by. Admittedly, the combat left her more than a little breathless, but that was because she'd never trained with other people like that for so long, and the repeated spikes of adrenaline that shot through her system every time she fought with another teen had exhausted her. Not too much time after she finished her meal, Beck fell asleep in her chair, Chainsaw sleeping as well in the barn next door.

* * *

Hiccup yawned and stretched like a cat, his arms over his eyes when he registered that something bright was flashing in them. He groaned a, "Go away," before turning over and trying to fall asleep again. By the Gods, how he  _hated_ mornings sometimes.

Apparently, the person holding the light didn't agree that he should get more sleep, because they bodily dragged him out of bed before tearing the blanket off him and slapping him on the face lightly. Hiccup yelped in surprise more than pain and his eyes flew open.

When his vision cleared, a grim Beck with her hands on her hips was standing in front of him, this time with an axe and a mace in her belt along with that ever-present sword. Since when did she carry three weapons at once?

"Beck?" he asked bewilderedly. She shook her head and pulled him to his feet. Toothless, he noticed, was not in the room. "Where's Toothless?" he asked warily, because his dragon was almost  _always_ there when he woke up. "And what are you even doing here?"

"We're under attack," she replied, a solemn expression on her face and one hand on her sword.

Hiccup's eyes bugged out. " _What?_ "

"I know," Beck said, and ran out of the room. Hiccup tugged on his boots and grabbed a small dagger (not that he'd be able to wield it, knowing his skills with any kind of traditional weapon) before quickly following, yelling after the girl, "Wait up! What do you mean, we're under attack? By who? When did this happen? Where's Toothless? Where's my father?"

He finally made it outside, noticing with mounting anxiety that Toothless wasn't downstairs, nor was his father. The fireplace wasn't even lit. He rushed outside, about to ask more questions, but Beck was nowhere to be seen.

A strong arm wrapped around his waist and a hand covered his mouth before he could scream and dragged him into the shadows beside his house.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiccup struggled and twisted at the sudden grab from the shadows. His heart pounded as he was dragged out of sight and into the gloom of the forest that took up most of the Isle of Berk. He spied the sky and saw that it was early morning, possibly only a few minutes after dawn. He tried to see who his attacker was but just then the person dragged him over a large rock and he grunted in pain against the warm hand over his mouth. Unfortunately, his kidnapper knew enough to wrap an arm around his waist and his arms, effectively pinning his arms to his sides so he couldn't fight back. He had to fight the anxious feeling in his stomach when he realized that he was helpless and at the mercy of this stranger. Then, Hiccup's eyes widened when he spotted the first of the bodies littering the ground. He couldn't help but recognize a few of them from his village, and that they were all brutally killed, lying bloody and limp on the ground. He noticed the broken branches and disturbed bushes in the area and figured out that there had been a struggle here not too long ago.

He decided to try another tactic. He relaxed his muscles and let his head loll before closing his eyes, pretending to have fainted. Once his attacker released him in surprise, he would spring up, find Toothless and figure out just what the hell was going on. However, the person didn't seem to be fazed, because they just kept dragging him, the sharp rocks on the ground hurting more now that he simply let his limp body be dragged over them. Finally, the person stopped.

He kept his body lax, waiting for the right moment when his attacker would release him and he could jump up and away, but the person held onto his arms and kept their hand over his mouth. Hiccup felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck when the mysterious person breathed behind him. Suddenly, there was a whisper next to his ear and he shuddered in surprise and fear.

" _Hiccup, if I let go of you, will you promise not to run away and listen?_ "

It was Beck.

Oh my Gods, he was safe. It was just Beck. He had thought that it was someone from an enemy tribe sent to kidnap him or worse, and had been trying unsuccessfully to fight the terror in his heart all through his trip through the forest. He nodded.

The arm let go of him and the hand moved away from his mouth and Hiccup stood quickly, turning to see Beck standing there, looking sheepish but determined. "Beck? What is happening? What did you do that for? You scared me practically to death!" Hiccup exclaimed, a hand over his heart. One good thing about Beck was that you could never expect her to tease you for being weak, so Hiccup had no qualms admitting that he'd been terrified.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," she said, scratching her head. "I just had to get you out of there before someone spotted you. You weren't exactly being quiet, you know," she admonished.

"Well, maybe if you answered my questions with a straight response, I wouldn't have to be loud," Hiccup whined.

"Sorry. Anyway, it came out of  _nowhere._ I woke up to battle cries and weapons hitting each other and when I got outside, everyone was fighting. It was the Berserkers and the Outcasts. It looked like they were working together and that they wanted you and Toothless, because they kept fighting to get closer to the Chief's house. Chief Stoick told me to get you far away from here, so here I am." Here, she spread her wiry arms out.

"The Berserkers  _and_ the Outcasts?They're working _together_? How come I didn't wake up naturally? You'd think that the fighting would've woken me up."

"It seems that they sent people to infiltrate the village and drug the major warriors so that they would wake up too late. They drugged me, you, your father, Gobber, your uncle and the other teens," she replied with a grimace.

Hiccup winced, fearing the answer. "What happened to them?"

"Last I saw, the other teens were fighting overhead on their dragons, Gobber was smashing a Berserker's head in, the Chief was mowing down a few Outcasts at a time and Spitelout was trying to set fire to their ships, but... I don't think it worked," she said, staring at something behind him.

"Why don't you think it worked?" he asked curiously.

"Because of this!" she yelled, drawing her sword and fisting his tunic to pull him out of the way just as something sharp sliced his back. He gasped at the pain and fell to the ground, watching as the Berserkers that had been sneaking up on him started to fight with Beck. It took her longer than it took with the Outcasts, but she eventually disarmed them and wounded them enough that they'd stay away. She gripped his wrist and pulled him behind her, shouting, "Come on!"

They crashed through the undergrowth for a few minutes, Hiccup getting more and more tired and dizzy, when they finally reached a place that Hiccup would always recognize. The cove.

Beck lifted him, careful of his back, which was stinging from the cut from the sword, and she headed down into the depression in the land, to where a certain missing Night Fury was waiting. "I told him to wait here, and surprisingly, he did," Beck mentioned as Toothless nuzzled his rider concernedly, smelling the blood on him.

"Yeah, he follows orders when he knows that they're important," Hiccup croaked, trying to heft himself into Toothless' saddle.

"Woah! Wait a second, Hiccup," Beck exclaimed, seeing his struggle was opening the wound on his back more. She settled him into the saddle and slipped his fake leg in so he could control Toothless' specially designed prosthetic tail. Finally, she climbed on behind him and Hiccup, fighting to keep his eyes open at the exhaustion from all the blood loss, directed them into the sky and away from Berk, to the north.

"Where... where are we going?" he managed to ask, peering into the horizon.

"Hold on, Hiccup. We're going to Dragon Island so I can clean and dress your back wound," Beck answered, keeping a tight grip on his shoulders so he would stay upright and awake.

After a few minutes, they landed on the rocky island and Beck hopped off, pulling Hiccup with her and lying him face down a few yards away near a small creek. Toothless crawled forward and gently nosed him in the side, green orbs staring anxiously at him. "Hey, it's gonna be alright, bud," Hiccup whispered, trying to reassure his dragon. Toothless just nestled close to him and blew warm, stinky dragon breath onto his hair, clicking and warbling in his throat.

"He says that you should try to rest," Beck offered helpfully as she tore a piece of fabric from Hiccup's tunic sleeve and wet it, wringing out the water before carefully applying it to the cut on his narrow back.

Hiccup hissed in pain, but he still asked, "You can understand Toothless?"

"Of course. I can speak Dragon, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right," he said, clenching his fists against the pain of the cold water entering the wound and Beck's attempts being gentle with cleaning it out.

Eventually, Beck finished the dreaded cleaning of the cut and ripped another piece from Hiccup's other tunic sleeve, lifting him and wrapping it around his chest and the wound until she was satisfied that it wouldn't come into contact with any foreign substances, like dirt and germs, which could infect the wound. Then they would be in  _serious_ trouble.

"I'm done," she announced, settling him back down. Hiccup sighed in relief and nodded. Toothless bumped his big head against Hiccup's shoulder, seeking attention and trying to see if his human was alright. Hiccup smiled softly and rubbed the dragon's black head, drawing pleased purrs from the, in Beck's opinion, overgrown house cat with wings.

"So now what?" Hiccup asked finally, having gotten fed up with the silence. Where would they go now? Berk was under attack and Stoick had ordered Beck to get Hiccup far away from there. Where  _could_ they go?

All of a sudden, an arrow struck the rock between them and Toothless was growling, his teeth bared and wings raised while blocking Hiccup's prone form with his muscled, scaly body.

"Now, we're on the run," Beck said, an odd calm in her eyes as she observed the Berserker and Outcast boats docking at the shore not too far away. She scooped Hiccup up again (she seemed to be doing that often these days, Beck noticed) and climbed into the saddle, once again, inserting Hiccup's prosthetic correctly and taking off, dodging a volley of arrows from an enraged Dagur the Deranged from below.

The last thing they heard before disappearing above the clouds was Dagur's cry of, "I know you're up there, Hiccup! And if it's the last thing I do, I will capture your precious Night Fury and you won't be able to do  _anything_ to stop me!"

Hiccup struggled and twisted at the sudden grab from the shadows. His heart pounded as he was dragged out of sight and into the gloom of the forest that took up most of the Isle of Berk. He spied the sky and saw that it was early morning, possibly only a few minutes after dawn. He tried to see who his attacker was but just then the person dragged him over a large rock and he grunted in pain against the warm hand over his mouth. Unfortunately, his kidnapper knew enough to wrap an arm around his waist and his arms, effectively pinning his arms to his sides so he couldn't fight back. He had to fight the anxious feeling in his stomach when he realized that he was helpless and at the mercy of this stranger. Then, Hiccup's eyes widened when he spotted the first of the bodies littering the ground. He couldn't help but recognize a few of them from his village, and that they were all brutally killed, lying bloody and limp on the ground. He noticed the broken branches and disturbed bushes in the area and figured out that there had been a struggle here not too long ago.

He decided to try another tactic. He relaxed his muscles and let his head loll before closing his eyes, pretending to have fainted. Once his attacker released him in surprise, he would spring up, find Toothless and figure out just what the hell was going on. However, the person didn't seem to be fazed, because they just kept dragging him, the sharp rocks on the ground hurting more now that he simply let his limp body be dragged over them. Finally, the person stopped.

He kept his body lax, waiting for the right moment when his attacker would release him and he could jump up and away, but the person held onto his arms and kept their hand over his mouth. Hiccup felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck when the mysterious person breathed behind him. Suddenly, there was a whisper next to his ear and he shuddered in surprise and fear.

" _Hiccup, if I let go of you, will you promise not to run away and listen?_ "

It was Beck.

Oh my Gods, he was safe. It was just Beck. He had thought that it was someone from an enemy tribe sent to kidnap him or worse, and had been trying unsuccessfully to fight the terror in his heart all through his trip through the forest. He nodded.

The arm let go of him and the hand moved away from his mouth and Hiccup stood quickly, turning to see Beck standing there, looking sheepish but determined. "Beck? What is happening? What did you do that for? You scared me practically to death!" Hiccup exclaimed, a hand over his heart. One good thing about Beck was that you could never expect her to tease you for being weak, so Hiccup had no qualms admitting that he'd been terrified.

"Yeah. Sorry about that," she said, scratching her head. "I just had to get you out of there before someone spotted you. You weren't exactly being quiet, you know," she admonished.

"Well, maybe if you answered my questions with a straight response, I wouldn't have to be loud," Hiccup whined.

"Sorry. Anyway, it came out of  _nowhere._ I woke up to battle cries and weapons hitting each other and when I got outside, everyone was fighting. It was the Berserkers and the Outcasts. It looked like they were working together and that they wanted you and Toothless, because they kept fighting to get closer to the Chief's house. Chief Stoick told me to get you far away from here, so here I am." Here, she spread her wiry arms out.

"The Berserkers  _and_ the Outcasts?They're working _together_? How come I didn't wake up naturally? You'd think that the fighting would've woken me up."

"It seems that they sent people to infiltrate the village and drug the major warriors so that they would wake up too late. They drugged me, you, your father, Gobber, your uncle and the other teens," she replied with a grimace.

Hiccup winced, fearing the answer. "What happened to them?"

"Last I saw, the other teens were fighting overhead on their dragons, Gobber was smashing a Berserker's head in, the Chief was mowing down a few Outcasts at a time and Spitelout was trying to set fire to their ships, but... I don't think it worked," she said, staring at something behind him.

"Why don't you think it worked?" he asked curiously.

"Because of this!" she yelled, drawing her sword and fisting his tunic to pull him out of the way just as something sharp sliced his back. He gasped at the pain and fell to the ground, watching as the Berserkers that had been sneaking up on him started to fight with Beck. It took her longer than it took with the Outcasts, but she eventually disarmed them and wounded them enough that they'd stay away. She gripped his wrist and pulled him behind her, shouting, "Come on!"

They crashed through the undergrowth for a few minutes, Hiccup getting more and more tired and dizzy, when they finally reached a place that Hiccup would always recognize. The cove.

Beck lifted him, careful of his back, which was stinging from the cut from the sword, and she headed down into the depression in the land, to where a certain missing Night Fury was waiting. "I told him to wait here, and surprisingly, he did," Beck mentioned as Toothless nuzzled his rider concernedly, smelling the blood on him.

"Yeah, he follows orders when he knows that they're important," Hiccup croaked, trying to heft himself into Toothless' saddle.

"Woah! Wait a second, Hiccup," Beck exclaimed, seeing his struggle was opening the wound on his back more. She settled him into the saddle and slipped his fake leg in so he could control Toothless' specially designed prosthetic tail. Finally, she climbed on behind him and Hiccup, fighting to keep his eyes open at the exhaustion from all the blood loss, directed them into the sky and away from Berk, to the north.

"Where... where are we going?" he managed to ask, peering into the horizon.

"Hold on, Hiccup. We're going to Dragon Island so I can clean and dress your back wound," Beck answered, keeping a tight grip on his shoulders so he would stay upright and awake.

After a few minutes, they landed on the rocky island and Beck hopped off, pulling Hiccup with her and lying him face down a few yards away near a small creek. Toothless crawled forward and gently nosed him in the side, green orbs staring anxiously at him. "Hey, it's gonna be alright, bud," Hiccup whispered, trying to reassure his dragon. Toothless just nestled close to him and blew warm, stinky dragon breath onto his hair, clicking and warbling in his throat.

"He says that you should try to rest," Beck offered helpfully as she tore a piece of fabric from Hiccup's tunic sleeve and wet it, wringing out the water before carefully applying it to the cut on his narrow back.

Hiccup hissed in pain, but he still asked, "You can understand Toothless?"

"Of course. I can speak Dragon, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right," he said, clenching his fists against the pain of the cold water entering the wound and Beck's attempts being gentle with cleaning it out.

Eventually, Beck finished the dreaded cleaning of the cut and ripped another piece from Hiccup's other tunic sleeve, lifting him and wrapping it around his chest and the wound until she was satisfied that it wouldn't come into contact with any foreign substances, like dirt and germs, which could infect the wound. Then they would be in  _serious_ trouble.

"I'm done," she announced, settling him back down. Hiccup sighed in relief and nodded. Toothless bumped his big head against Hiccup's shoulder, seeking attention and trying to see if his human was alright. Hiccup smiled softly and rubbed the dragon's black head, drawing pleased purrs from the, in Beck's opinion, overgrown house cat with wings.

"So now what?" Hiccup asked finally, having gotten fed up with the silence. Where would they go now? Berk was under attack and Stoick had ordered Beck to get Hiccup far away from there. Where  _could_ they go?

All of a sudden, an arrow struck the rock between them and Toothless was growling, his teeth bared and wings raised while blocking Hiccup's prone form with his muscled, scaly body.

"Now, we're on the run," Beck said, an odd calm in her eyes as she observed the Berserker and Outcast boats docking at the shore not too far away. She scooped Hiccup up again (she seemed to be doing that often these days, Beck noticed) and climbed into the saddle, once again, inserting Hiccup's prosthetic correctly and taking off, dodging a volley of arrows from an enraged Dagur the Deranged from below.

The last thing they heard before disappearing above the clouds was Dagur's cry of, "I know you're up there, Hiccup! And if it's the last thing I do, I will capture your precious Night Fury and you won't be able to do  _anything_ to stop me!"


	4. Chapter 4

They had been flying for about five minutes when Hiccup remembered to ask where they were going. "Um, Beck?"

"Yeah?" she replied distractedly, one hand on her sword and the other on Hiccup's shoulder to steady him as she watched the ocean below them.

"Where  _are_ we going?" he asked.

"To be honest, I'm not sure." Hiccup's mouth fell open and he was about to start protesting incredulously when she continued. "Well, what do you want me to do? I can't come up with everything, you know! Use those Gods-given smarts of yours and  _you_ think of a place to run to!" Beck snapped angrily.

Hiccup raised a brow. Being snappy was  _not_ Beck's thing. "Is something wrong, Beck?" he asked the girl concernedly.

"Oh, nothing's wrong, Hiccup. Except the fact that Berk is under attack by two enemy tribes at once, that two members of our party are injured and that we are on the run for our lives with nowhere to go!" she shouted.

"Yeah, dumb question, sorry," Hiccup admitted. Then something Beck had said caught his attention. "Wait, what do you mean  _two_ members of our party?"

Beck sighed resignedly. "I got a cut during the battle," she confessed, lifting her left arm with a repressed pained expression.

Hiccup gasped and looked at her arm, which had a tear in the red tunic sleeve and where some ruby red blood was leaking out at an alarming rate. "Are you  _crazy?_ Why didn't you tell me earlier? You need to get that wrapped up!"

"It was less important than getting you out of there!" Beck argued.

"How do you know?" Hiccup rebutted. Toothless groaned anxiously below them, concerned at the sudden angry tones of his two riders.

"Because your father trusted me enough to help you escape! Plus, you're the Chief's son, Hiccup. You're the heir to the tribe. You need to live," Beck answered, her voice and demeanor getting calmer towards the end of her response. "Also, you're my friend. I didn't want to see you kidnapped or dead."

Hiccup's expression softened. "Wow. I guess I never thought of it that way before. Thanks, Beck, for helping me escape," he said. "I mean it. You're a true friend."

Beck smiled, grateful. "Not a problem, Hiccup."

Hiccup smiled back but he kept his eyes on Beck's left arm. "Ok, we need to land somewhere and take care of that wound. Toothless, can you find an island nearby?" This last part he directed towards his Night Fury, who obliged with a wailing call and a wave of purple light going outwards.

"Woah! What was that? What did he just do?" Beck asked, her countenance amazed at Toothless' display of his sonar powers.

"That's something he uses to see things nearby with sound. When the sound bounces back to him, he can tell if there's something nearby we're looking for, like an island," Hiccup explained.

"Wow. That's amazing," she said, one hand on her left arm now to try and slow down the bleeding. Hiccup, of course, noticed this and urged Toothless on, who gave a grunt and started flying to their right. "Toothless says that there's an island not too far to our right," Beck translated.

"Okay. Bud, can you get us there?" At Toothless' warble of assent, Hiccup ordered, "Try to go for a smooth landing. We don't want to jostle Beck's wound or mine."

A couple of minutes later, they finally spotted the island, which was nothing much, just a small piece of land with some rocks, grass and few trees, but to Hiccup, Toothless and Beck, it was their safe haven. Toothless glided in smoothly and touched down on the beach, even crouching down lower to the ground so Hiccup and Beck could get off more easily. Beck muttered a quick "thank you" in Dragon while Hiccup helped her off the saddle and Toothless moaned a "your welcome" back, but he kept his eyes on the pair worriedly, smelling the blood on Beck and Hiccup from their injuries.

"Here, let's sit down," Hiccup said, seeing Beck start to sway a bit from the blood loss and leading her to a tree where she could prop her quickly-fading body against it. He tore a strip from his own tunic sleeve and washed it in a puddle a few feet away, then rushed back and rolled up Beck's sleeve.

It was a gruesome sight by that point. The blood trailed down her arm and pooled as endless drops at Beck's fingertips, already making a small pool of red next to her leg. The cut wasn't that deep, but it was long and looked to be made with a sword. There was probably so much blood because the wound was near a major artery. Hiccup winced in empathy as he cleaned off the blood and tried to disinfect it. Beck jerked in pain and he saw the knuckles of her right hand go white with the strain of fisting them so tightly, but she didn't make a peep.

At last, it was over. Hiccup tore another strip from his other sleeve and tied it tightly around the cut, making sure it was big enough to cover it. Beck had gone white from the blood loss and the pain, but she was still, thankfully, conscious. She eyed him as he cleaned the blood off himself and grabbed a rock to start sharpening his meager dagger.

"So now what?" Beck asked groggily, but getting more aware every second.

Hiccup paused. "Now? Well, we need to cover our tracks, find shelter, find food and find a bigger supply of water."

"Oh, so not much then," she joked with a wan smile.

He chuckled and said, "We'd better get started. I don't want you to be out in the sun all day. It'll drain your energy."

Beck groaned but nodded, using her right arm to push herself up and lean against the tree again, albeit standing this time. "Why don't you get Toothless to cover our tracks while you find food and I find shelter and water," she suggested.

"Are you sure? Can you walk?" Hiccup asked, arms slightly outstretched to be ready if the girl fell.

"Hiccup. Is the cut on my arm or my leg? Of course I can walk," Beck scoffed. And with that, she set off into the trees, looking for a cave and hopefully a small freshwater spring.

Hiccup shook his head. Beck had just gone through some serious trauma, what with the battle at Berk, the battle with the Berserkers after they found them in the woods, the flight to Dragon Island, fixing up the cut on his back, the escape from Dragon Island when Dagur, his Berserkers and some Outcasts showed up and then the blood pouring out of her arm on the way here. She must be exhausted. Hiccup knew that he would be, if he were her. Finally, he shrugged and gave Toothless instructions on how to cover up their tracks on the sandy beach and headed inland in a slightly different direction than Beck to find food.


	5. Chapter 5

It didn't take long for Beck to conclude that there was, unfortunately, not a lot of fresh water on the island, it being as small as it was. Just a few small puddles, which were actually pretty dirty. She didn't know why she had expected to find a river or something, it was just that she always tried to have hope when times were tough. It was what had kept her alive those seven years alone.

Beck sighed and gave up on the search for fresh water, instead starting to look for some sort of shelter big enough for two people. It didn't need to be big enough for a dragon, she mused as she trudged through the dirt, since Toothless was a Night Fury and therefore could blend into the dark easily. Plus, his tough dragon hide could repel almost anything, even fire, so he wouldn't be vulnerable to the elements. Weapons, on the other hand... Well, his skin was thick enough to withstand an arrow or something, right? She didn't know for sure, and she certainly didn't want to test that theory, so it was probably a good idea to find a place with something to hide Toothless from sight as well.

In the end, the best Beck could find was a couple of tall trees that formed a sort of roof overhead with layers upon layers of old pine needles creating a soft carpet on the ground underneath the dark green vegetation. It would shelter them enough for now, but Beck knew that they'd have to move soon after staying here a night or two to find a better place to hide, preferably with better resources. Having decided on shelter, she set out to find Hiccup and Toothless.

* * *

Hiccup was having a bit more luck than Beck in completing his task. He'd already found some berries and mushrooms, but no animals that they could roast, so he guessed that unless they could somehow build a fishing rod and get some fish, that'd be it for food. He couldn't take Toothless out there to hunt for fish since one, he was the only one who could fly the Night Fury yet he still injured, and two, it was far too dangerous to be out and about at this time of day. After all, if he stared at the horizon hard enough, he could still see a column of spoke rising from Berk and a few ships milling about, probably debating where to search first to hunt down Hiccup and his dragon. He shuddered at the thought of Dagur and Alvin plotting in some dark hold of a ship to capture him and his beloved friend.

He shook his head sharply, wincing at the crick in his neck it created but relishing the focus it brought back to him as he was able to concentrate more on the here and now, and on the fact that he had to get the food back to Beck, who had hopefully found some water and shelter, and on what to do next. Meanwhile, Toothless continued to slink after his human, dragging a branch of leaves with his mouth and walking backwards to cover up their tracks.

* * *

Beck heard her quarries before she saw them; the tell-tale _clink_ of Hiccup's prosthetic leg as he walked and the _swish-swish_ of Toothless' prosthetic tail brushing over the ground gave them away. She'd have to see about getting them to move more quietly; in a life-or-death situation, it meant everything if you could just stay unnoticed. She slunk behind a tree trunk and spied on them as they plodded past, unaware that they were being watched. Beck, ignoring the deep ache in her injured arm, decided to teach them a lesson about being heedless of their environment. After all, what if it wasn't _her_ that was searching for them in the near future, and not with such benign intentions? What if Dagur the Deranged or Alvin the Treacherous, or worse, _both of them,_ somehow managed to track them down and decided to hunt them for sport?

When she had seen them fade from view, Beck tip-toed after the boy and the dragon softly enough as to not alert the Night Fury's sensitive hearing. Growing up on an island full of dragons (half-trained dragons, but still dragons) had taught her how to do that. As soon as she was three feet from Toothless' tail fins and Hiccup suddenly stopped walking, she sprung.

* * *

Hiccup stopped walking, confused and frustrated that he couldn't find Beck. It was such a small island, so why wasn't she around? He was pretty sure that he'd made a tour of the circumference of the whole strip of land they'd miraculously found, but so far -

Out of _nowhere,_ a body slammed into his and an axe was at the back of his neck, a person lying on him heavily and effectively pinning him to the ground. Hiccup's heart sped up; had Dagur or Alvin found them? He took hope from the fact that he could still hear Toothless growling dangerously at his attacker, but suddenly his dragon stopped growling after a weird series of grunts from his attacker. _Now what?_ Hiccup frantically thought, worrying for the safety of his dragon. Was this why he wasn't able to find Beck earlier? Had their enemies gotten to her first? He breathed heavily, body trembling from terror and from the the stress of dealing with a hefty figure immobilizing him on the hard ground.

"L-let me go," he demanded - well, pleaded, but that was how it came out from all the fear he was feeling. It was the same feeling he'd gotten when Beck had grabbed him and dragged him into the forest, but Hiccup had a sinking feeling that _this_ time, he wouldn't be so lucky as to have his attacker be a friend of his.

* * *

Beck leaped and landed heavily on Hiccup, her axe already out and against his nape. She heard the threatening growls of Toothless and turned to find him staring, pupils slitted, at her with his claws digging into the dirt. She muttered a reassurance in Dragon to him under her breath, and he backed off, looking very confused. She turned back to Hiccup, who, Beck could tell, was clearly terrified. She'd have to teach him to always expect the unexpected when it came to being on the run. You never knew what might happen when you least anticipated it.

"L-let me go," Hiccup suddenly begged from underneath her, voice quivering like his thin body.

Beck, having decided to teach him a thing or two about _not_ cracking under pressure, kept up the prank. In a low, rough voice, she demanded, "And _why_ should I let you go, you little runt?" It hurt her to say those words, but she was being tough to be kind, she reminded herself.

* * *

"And _why_ should I let you go, you little runt?" a voice replied, startling Hiccup badly. He shook even harder, burying his head into his arms to escape the feeling of the axe on the back of his neck, but the weapon followed the movement and dug into his nape all the more. The word _runt_ had brought back too many painful memories of his father and of Alvin taunting him on Outcast Island. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and screamed shrilly, struggling wildly and clawing the ground to get away from his attacker. The person gasped and jumped off his back, taken by surprise, but Hiccup didn't care. He curled up into a ball at the person's feet in the fetal position (just like Fishlegs had the day before during the training sessions, might I add) and was too far gone to hear Toothless' grumbles about his human being upset. He sobbed, thinking about how this was his end, being killed by an Outcast or a Berserker while curled up into a crying ball like a coward, but he couldn't help it. The thought of his dragon and Beck being injured or dead was just too much.

"Hey, Hiccup, it's okay. I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry." He twitched at the new voice and opened his eyes to find Beck kneeling beside him, an axe in her hand. His wet eyes sought Toothless on her right side, crooning worriedly for him. Hiccup searched frantically for his attacker; he couldn't have just disappeared! Finally, his eyes rested on Beck and the axe she was holding, and more specifically, the bit of fresh blood on it from cutting slightly into his nape. He gasped and scrabbled backwards, confused as to why she would ambush him like that.

"Hiccup, I can explain," Beck began calmly. "I was looking for you and Toothless, and I saw that you two were not paying enough attention to your surroundings. You're lucky that I wasn't an actual enemy. I was just trying to make you realize that you have to be _careful_ when you're on the run like this. Anything could happen. But I see now that I went too far with my lesson, and for that, I'm truly sorry."

Hiccup gaped at her, astonished. He tried to process her words, his mind still reeling from the "attack". Eventually, he grasped what she was saying and opened his mouth to say something, but abruptly closed it with an audible _click_ when he realized that he couldn't say anything. Beck did make sense, after all. He couldn't just assume that they'd be safe anywhere they went, as long as they thought they had escaped their enemies for now. And she was right, he _was_ lucky that it had only been his friend trying to teach him to how to survive. He just had one question.

"What did you do to get Toothless to stop growling?"

* * *

Beck was shocked that Hiccup took it so well. She had expected him to get all huffy and upset at her about being so mean and cruel, but he looked like he agreed with what she was saying, except the "going too far" part, and all he had to say was, "What did you do to get Toothless to stop growling?"

She shook her head, swearing that she'd never understand this boy, and answered, "I told him in Dragon that it was okay and that we were just playing." Hiccup snorted at that, and she looked at him worriedly, afraid that she'd angered him with her words, but he was only shaking his head self-deprecatingly.

"It's alright, Beck. Don't blame yourself. You've got to have guts to do something like that for my benefit, and I certainly feel more alert now," he chuckled.

Beck sighed in relief and decided they'd better hunker down and get some rest, since the sun was steadily gliding towards the horizon, signalling the end to another day. It'd be the first day that they'd survived on the run, she contemplated contentedly. "Well, that's that. We'd better get into the shadows; I found a good enough shelter for tonight, but no clean fresh water."

Hiccup, having stood up by now, perked up and scooped the crushed berries and mushrooms into his hands from where they had fallen when Beck had jumped on him. "Oh! That's great! Look, I found some berries and mushrooms we could eat."

Beck took a step closer and peered at the food, squinting. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she picked up the berries only to hurl them into the trees. Hiccup started to ask her what the _hell_ was wrong with her, but stopped when she gripping his arms hard enough to bruise with her wiry hands and stared into his eyes seriously. "Did you eat any of those berries?" she asked hurriedly, eyes searching his face. Toothless growled a question, looking at where she'd thrown the berries, but she ignored him. "DID YOU EAT ANY OF THOSE BERRIES?" she yelled, frantic now.

Hiccup, quite startled, tentatively replied, "No, but why - ?"

"Oh, thank Thor," Beck breathed, releasing his arms and wiping her sweaty brow in relief.

"What is it, Beck? What's wrong?" Hiccup asked, worried.

"Hiccup," she started slowly and deliberately, "those berries were deadly poisonous. They would've killed you within half an hour. No wonder I didn't see any animal life on this island." This last bit she muttered thoughtfully to herself, shaking her head exasperatedly.

Toothless, somehow understanding the matter, widened his eyes and growled in the direction of the berries, as if they would move of their own accord and come after his Hiccup with their poison. He couldn't believe that he hadn't smelled the danger in them before now, but now, his nose could detect the reek of poison. Hiccup, for his part, looked ashamed enough; he was internally beating himself up for being so stupid. He glanced at the mushrooms he held within his hands; were they poisonous too? If so, what would they _eat?_

Beck, seeming to read his mind, stated tiredly, "The mushrooms are fine, Hiccup. I'm more worried about fresh water at the moment. We'll have to find another island if we want to get some more drinkable water, because all I found was some dirty puddles." She paused, and gazed at Toothless for a minute. "Toothless didn't eat any of those berries, did he?" she questioned.

Hiccup started to shake his head, but stopped half-way, unsure. He hadn't been watching Toothless the entire time. He looked to his dragon, who hung his head before opening his mouth and spitting out some berry remains ashamedly. The boy sucked in a breath, but it didn't help the sudden feeling of not being able to breathe. He glanced at Beck, panicked, and saw the same expression on her face. They were in trouble now.


	6. Chapter 6

A sick feeling began to make its home in Hiccup's stomach. "What do we do? He'll die within half an hour, you said!" he exclaimed, his voice going almost an octave higher towards the end of the sentence.

"Oh, Thor," Beck muttered, biting her lip and examining Toothless, who seemed to catch on to their worry and had his brow furrowed concernedly.

"WELL?!"

"I don't know, Hiccup," she answered, stepping back from the Night Fury and regarding him with a careful, tense look. "I know how to counteract it for humans, but I don't know if it's even poisonous _at all_ for dragons. Plus, we don't have the ingredients for the cure with us."

"What are the ingredients?" Hiccup demanded in a rush.

"But - "

"Tell me! We can search for them on this island!"

Beck sighed, but listed them out to Hiccup anyways. There was a great likelihood that Hiccup's dragon friend would be dead within the hour, but it seemed that Hiccup wouldn't accept that.

For five minutes (since that's how long it took to search the tiny island, anyway), they hunted down any of the ingredients. They only found five of the ten ingredients needed for the cure for the berry poison. Beck slumped down next to a tree stump, thoroughly depressed. They'd never find the ingredients in time, if they were even _on_ this island.

Without warning, a flapping sound was heard overhead and they all glanced up, wondering which dragon lived around these parts. To their great surprise, it was Chainsaw, Beck's Whispering Death. "Chainsaw!" she called, and then called in Dragon for him to come down.

The toothy dragon heard her and landed, nuzzling his human gently. He'd been looking for her after he'd helped finally drive away the attackers at Berk, he communicated through Dragon speech. Beck told him about their predicament and Chainsaw, with Beck on his back, was up and flying away. Apparently, he knew of a nearby island where the rest of the ingredients grew and could take her there.

Hiccup waved at them as they flew off. They were staying behind because they didn't want to risk tiring the Night Fury out if it turned out that the berries really did have toxic effects on dragons. He rubbed Toothless' head and watched the sky, worrying incessantly about his dragon. Would they make it back in time?

They did, with seven minutes to spare. Beck was off Chainsaw's back and starting a fire to prepare the cure before the Whispering Death had even landed. With two minutes to spare, they gave a murky green liquid to Toothless to drink and waited for it to take effect. For the past twenty minutes, the Night Fury had seemed to get more and more tired until he could no longer stand up on his own.

A collective sigh of relief sounded out when Toothless' head snapped up and his pupils narrowed a bit, as alert as he'd been before eating the poisonous berries.

"Oh, thank Odin," Hiccup breathed, hugging Toothless tightly. The dragon crooned and nuzzled his human back.

It was evening by now and Beck was starting to get nervous. She'd never liked the dark, especially with the feeling of being too out in the open right now. They were vulnerable to attack if they kept just standing there on the beach.

"Okay, Hiccup, we'd better bed down for the night. Tomorrow's another day." Beck started to walk off to the spot that she'd remarked was a good hiding spot from any passing ships or overhead dragons, but was stopped by Hiccup's voice.

"Thank you _so much,_ Beck. If it weren't for you, Toothless would've died." The gratefulness in his tone of voice was apparent.

She looked back and smiled softly, yet tiredly. "Not a problem, Hiccup."

* * *

Five minutes later, they'd made a rather comfortable sort of camp under the pine trees. Beck had washed the mushrooms with the clean water Hiccup had managed to procure from the dirty puddles she'd found earlier thanks to a device that he'd invented back on Berk that could filter dirty water into drinkable water. He claimed that it even worked with salt water, so if they couldn't find a clean drinking-water source on the next island they found, at least they had a way to get some. Plus, they'd have Chainsaw's help and defence capabilities from now on.

The humans ate the mushrooms while Chainsaw brought Toothless and himself some fish, freshly caught from the ocean. They gobbled them all down as Hiccup and Beck watched amusedly.

Finally, the moon rose as night fell over the Earth. Everyone huddled down, Hiccup instinctively curling up to Toothless for extra warmth from the chilly night air, but Beck didn't have that luxury, since, well, Chainsaw was a _Whispering Death._ Although, Toothless noticed this and, cracking one green eye open, he dabbed a black wing over her restless form, enveloping her in warmth as well. She coughed at the sudden smell of dragon, but eventually fell asleep, the odour of dragon lulling her to sleep from her days spent on Sunset Island with all the half-trained dragons.

Chainsaw curled up at the edge of the clearing, white eyes wide open and staring at the shore of the island. This was his element; his eyes were adapted to see well in the dark since he'd spent most of his days underground, tunnelling. For several hours, he kept watch.

Not far away enough, a dark ship broke through the waves of the ocean, a smirking smugly Alvin the Treacherous and a grinning maniacally Dagur the Deranged at the bow of the ship, looking out to the overcast, gloomy horizon.


End file.
